3 Northwest Suburban Schools to Remain Closed Friday After Legionella Bacteria Found

The elevated levels of bacteria were detected in an HVAC system Wednesday morning during the district's annual air quality testing

Multiple schools in the northwest suburbs will not have class again Friday after higher than normal levels of Legionella bacteria were detected in their cooling towers.

District U-46's Eastview Middle School in Bartlett as well as Elgin's Larkin High School and the Educational Services Center, Gifford Street Middle and High Schools and Central Schools Program have canceled all classes and scheduled activities for a third day.

The elevated levels of bacteria were detected in an HVAC system Wednesday morning during the district's annual air quality testing.

"The district has followed and exceeded the required cleaning protocol for their cooling towers and will continue the cleaning process Friday," District U-46's CEO Tony Sanders announced in a Facebook post late Thursday.

“We have gone above and beyond industry standards and guidelines to ensure the safety of our staff and students,” Sanders said. “We have absolutely no evidence that anyone was exposed to anything harmful but we will always err on the side of caution in the face of a risk to staff and students. We will keep these schools closed Friday while we take additional safety measures as discussed today with our water management consultant and state health officials.”

The District has been in communication with the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Kane County Department of Health and the Kane County Regional Office of Education throughout the process, according to Sanders.

All other U-46 schools and facilities will remain open.

“We have all 19 of these types of cooling systems being sanitized right now," Sanders said upon the discovery. "The guidelines from OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) say if you have a level of 1-thousand parts per million or higher that you should take emergency action two of them came in above 1000 and Larkin came in at 940.”

Students and staff at the schools were evacuated just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. All of the buildings were closed immediately.

“We got an announcement from our principal and he told us to evacuate the school because there was some environmental hazard but we were told what the hazard was,” said Larkin High School senior Sabbat Sattar.

One parent said she was disappointed by the way the school released information about the incident.

"The information by the school district was not appropriately put out in a timely manner,” said Christine Romanenko, a mother of five. “I think it caused a lot of panic and worry and chaos in a school day.”

Eastview Middle School students were being transported to Bartlett High until parents could pick them up. Gifford Street School and Central Schools program students were being moved to Elgin High School until they could be taken home. And Larkin students were dismissed from the school if they could walk home while others were being bussed home. Special needs students were also being transported home.

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